Traditional Animation Dying in America

According to a new article published in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times, the traditional cel animation industry in America is rapidly heading toward extinction, to be replaced by digital and CG animation. The extensive article, “Animation Drawing New Respect in Hollywood” discusses the commercial and critical success of CG animated films including Shrek, Monsters, Inc. and Jimmy Neutron at the expense of traditional cel animation films like Osmosis Jones, Atlantis and Titan AE. The article reveals that even Disney’s animation department has been contracted roughly in half over the past 7 years. Disney cut hundreds of jobs in the traditional animation department last year, and will likely cut several hundred more by the end of this year.

In related news, according to Ain’t It Cool News, Fox Television has essentially ceased its support of Futurama. The network has no plans to commission production of any new episodes of the program, which is just 16 episodes short of the number required for syndication. Fox apparently plans to broadcast roughly 20 complete but previously unaired episodes under the guise of a season five. According to a confirmation from one of Futurama’s animators, without enough episodes to go into syndication, chances of a domestic DVD release of Futurama are slim. GotFuturama.com has become the internet’s home page for the effort to save the program from cancellation.